“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.”
Ephesians 5:11
Dear Kingdom Builders,
Human trafficking is horrifying. It’s also extraordinarily profitable.
This week I posted a podcast with a couple of VCs whose fund’s thesis is to help end it. And the illegal side of the market that they’re tackling is enormous.
So what’s their plan?
Make trafficking harder to monetize
An ILO official described it in economic terms: Make it “high-risk, low-profit.”
There is recent precedent for this.
In 2020, Mastercard terminated the use of its products on Pornhub. Visa separately followed suit. Pornhub later admitted in court it received proceeds connected to sex trafficking. It subsequently dropped most of its content.
The exploitation became harder to monetize, so business suffered.
A real market is forming to fight trafficking
But now the fight against trafficking has created an industry to help companies and government agencies that now have financial and legal reasons to stop it.
Banks can face penalties for failing to detect trafficking-related activity.
Hotels are facing federal trafficking lawsuits.
Companies can have billions of dollars in shipments stopped over suspected forced labor.
That is how a social problem starts to become a market. Real customers with real problems.
A weapon that funds itself
Profitable problem-solving is a familiar domain for venture capital. Enter Eagle Venture Fund. They back the companies building those tools.
A bank can pay for technology that detects illicit financial networks.
A hotel can pay for tools that identify trafficking activity.
A corporation can pay to find forced labor in its supply chain.
The victim being protected doesn't need to be the customer. The institution with something to lose does.
In short, companies can generate revenue precisely by making exploitation harder.
None of this replaces charity, survivor services, advocacy or law enforcement. It adds another weapon.
Make it harder to hide. Make it costlier to run. High-risk. Low-profit.
It’s fighting fire with fire … or rather, illicit finance with redemptive finance.
If that model can attack human trafficking, what other harmful industries could Christians help make unprofitable?
Have a blessed week.
Matt
Wes Lyons and Vip Vipperman of Eagle Venture Fund discuss how they use venture capital to build and back companies tackling human trafficking and other major social problems.
Impact is strongest when it is built directly into the business model.
Eagle measures outcomes, not just dollars invested or activities completed.
Their ambition is to prove that scalable businesses can help dismantle entire systems of exploitation.
Christian investors urged Nike to assess the legal, financial, and reputational risks tied to its support for organizations and benefits policies connected to transgender procedures for minors, but shareholders rejected the proposal.
Morningstar argues that faith-based investing has grown into a roughly $200 billion global market, but the label masks major differences in how religious funds define values, screen investments, and construct portfolios even among funds within the same faith tradition.
30-Second Investment Terms and Strategies
Power Law
Power law describes the tendency in venture capital for a small number of investments to generate a disproportionate share of a fund’s total returns.
What it is: A return pattern where a few exceptionally successful companies can outweigh many investments that produce modest returns or fail entirely.
Where it appears: Venture capital, angel investing, and other early-stage portfolios where outcomes vary dramatically from company to company.
Why it matters: Venture investors are often not trying to be right on every investment. They are trying to own enough of the rare companies that can become very large winners. That makes access to strong deal flow, portfolio construction, ownership percentage, and the ability to continue investing in winners especially important.
DISCLAIMER: This material is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice, nor is it an offer or solicitation to purchase or sell any security. “ChristianAlts” is a media publication operated by HoneyHive Capital Partners LLC. HoneyHive Capital Partners LLC is not a broker-dealer, investment adviser, or funding portal and does not offer or sell securities. The author is a registered representative and investment adviser representative operating through separate, regulated entities, including Excelitrax LLC (d.b.a. HoneyHive Capital), which conducts investment banking and securities-related activities under the supervision of Finalis Securities LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. This publication is not issued on behalf of, or supervised by, Finalis Securities LLC or any affiliated broker-dealer. Any securities-related services or transactions are conducted only through the appropriate regulated entities and are offered solely by means of formal offering documents, including, where applicable, a confidential offering memorandum, and in accordance with federal and state securities laws. The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and are based on internal research, opinions, and publicly available information that has not been independently verified. No representation or warranty is made as to the accuracy or completeness of the information. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Any forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that may cause actual results to differ materially.
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